Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 982,401 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 98.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,106 shares of the company’s stock after selling 982,401 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,788,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,157,602 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 10.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,719,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,274,799,000 after buying an additional 1,746,066 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 29.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,366,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,653,000 after buying an additional 1,654,505 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,716,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,884,000 after buying an additional 1,645,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 100.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 2,519,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,548,000 after buying an additional 1,261,439 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.3%

XEL stock opened at $73.77 on Thursday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.58 and a twelve month high of $83.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.71.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $3.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.89 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.45% and a net margin of 13.46%.Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 29th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on XEL shares. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $92.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.29.

Xcel Energy Profile

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.